More like Dangerous according to "science".

The level that the EU allows is too high according to the evidence.

This is the wrong way to do it. You can't hear because you are fighting against road noise, and to do that by increasing volume is how you damage hearing. I have those headphones before and i know they are ok for sealing some noise, but they certainly do not block noise, they are hyrbid earbud/iem, they do not go anywhere near as deep into the ear as real iems though,so their ability to block noise is only slightly better than regular ear buds. Fighting noise this way only results in hearing damage, you need iems, which are in ear monitors which are best for actually sealing the ear like an ear plug, they tend to cost more.There are also some active noise canceling headphones, but they also must do some sealing or else their effect will be undermined. Some noise canceling heaphones are a joke because they apply the tech to ear buds or light on the ear headphones..which just is pointless. Real noise canceling headphones are over the ear big honking headphones that are big ear seals. Double protection/seal against sound, but i'm not sure if you are allowed to drive with such things on, it maybe illegal.

That being said,, the eu is full of sh*t on this issue, not all headphones are equally efficient, and some of the higher end ones need more power to have equal volume, so this nanny state nonsense is just bs.

Although I agree with what you are saying a lot of spoken word podcasts that I listen to are very quiet and thats after I maxise the volume in Itunes.

Peak signal level is only one factor in determining how loud something sounds. The dynamic range also has a major effect. Dynamic range is the ratio between the loud and quiet bits.

If you have two sounds that have the same peak signal level the one with the smallest dynamic range will sound louder than the one with the biggest dynamic range. It's a complex relationship between peak and average signal levels and the type of sound.

If you find the podcasts are too quiet then one thing you could try is compressing the dynamic range (not the same thing as compressing the bitrate to make an mp3 or whatever). You can use something like Audacity to compress the podcast so that subjectively it sounds louder even though it has the same peak signal level.

And I assume this is while being a passenger in the van. Not sure driving with headphones on is that sensible really..

thanks for the physics lesson


You assumed wrong although I cant really see what the problem is with wearing headphones while driving, its not illegal in the UK is it?

I use foobar+soundtouch dsp for timestretching podcasts. There might be a normalize function dsp for it as well, i bring this up because foobar is fast and convenient for such applications. Couple clicks/drag drop and presets and you are done, whereas audacity is best left to actually edit audio, its not made to be convenient for batch use...and is slow. Blocking both ears in the us is illegal, you may have to look up local laws in the uk.

More like Acoustics really


There may not be any specific law against it but the advanced driver in me just can't help thinking that anything that detracts from the job in hand, ie driving, has to be a bad thing.

Such as concentrating on the content of the podcast instead of what is going on around you and not being able (potentially) to hear things like a Fire Engine or Ambulance on an emergency run.

Even if its not explicitly illegal, you are opening yourself up to a world of hurt if you get in an accident, as you will likely face charges of reckless driving of some sort. Or simply undermine your case arguing over who was at fault.

Range tends not to be the issue for podcasts anyway, there isn't all that dynamic range to worry about with voices, its just too quiet because they are amateurs and using poor equipment. Decent podcasts are more than loud enough by default. The discernibility of a voice does not depend on dynamic range, it just doesn't vary enough for that to even become factor, that is more a classical music thing where the range from whisper quiet sections to bombastic drum crashes is vast, and you might have to choose between totally missing out on quiet sections or becoming deafened with such materials in loud locations using poor headphones.

cant see that thats any different from listening to the radio?


i knew somebody would mention this but in the UK a totally deaf person is still allowed to drive, with regards to not hearing a siren, if your allert and checking your mirrors then you'll still see the emergency vehicle anyway.

Pocatello makes quite an interesting point though about accidents and blame.

I may start to use the aux in on the Ford radio in the future instead of earphones, the maximum volume may still be an issue listening this way though.

It isn't. But that is not the point. It is distracting your attention away from your driving. What that distraction is is irrelevant


And I knew you would use that argument back.

A deaf person would not be able to hear a siren, assuming they cannot use hearing aids obviously. So they would hopefully compensate by making more use of their sight. The point is as you say alertness. But that implies you are not concentrating on something else.


Indeed. I wonder how many motorists were done for Due Care and Attention when rabbiting away on the mobile before it became a specific offence?


Unlikely to be such a problem. You would be surprised at just how little of the maximum output power of the amplifier you use at sensible listening volumes. So there is likely to be plenty of welly in reserve on the radio.

Dynamic range is not just the difference between a quiet passage in a piece of music and the orchestra going at it full tilt. You can still have quite a wide range of signal level variations even in a simple bit of speech.

Even if the original recording is low level you can always introduce gain to compensate and raise the peak signal level. But as I said peak signal level is only one factor in how loud something appears to be.

You can make any voice track sound louder by using a compressor. I very much doubt that any speech you hear on the radio is pure unadulterated straight off the mic, (apart from BBC Radios 3 and 4 maybe). Most of it will be processed in some way and using dynamic range compression is extremely common.

There used to be programs you could get that would remove the cap or boost your volume. EuPOD used to be one of them and Go POD not sure whether the developers still develop these apps though. I think the eupod developer defected from the iPod to an iRiver or something.

I use noise cancelling in ears. I used to use the Shure e2c now I use the Apple in ears (the premium ones not the stock buds) with my Nexus One and they block out most the noise on public transport meaning the volume is sufficient. The only problem is getting them to fit correctly plus they can be dangerous if you are not paying attention.